Reflections of You
by krackensan
Summary: All the boys are told that they are sterile, but Duo Maxwell takes it the hardest. When he discovers a cloning lab experimenting with their DNA, he takes drastic measures to secure their genetic futures.1x2,yaoi
1. Decisions

Kracken

Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.  
Warning:Male /male sex, graphic, language, slight mpreg, cloning, violence

1x2

Reflections of You

Duo remembered the day that they had all taken a physical for their Preventer badges. It had been a disappointment that had been hard to handle at the beginning of his new life after the war. The clinical, 'I'm sorry, but you are all sterile', had been delivered along with a report on their overall health. Yes, you had measles as a child, Duo... No, Heero, you didn't... I'm sorry, but you are all sterile and your DNA is unviable,... You, Quatre, need to be monitored for rather high cholesterol...

Duo supposed that fatherhood was easily come by in that day and age, and the fact that he was gay, hadn't gone hand in hand with, 'You'll never be a father.' Artificial wombs and test tube babies were the rage in the colonies, after all. Birthing deaths and defects were common for many colony born citizens who tried to carry babies to term. The question had only been, 'Who's egg, donor or friend?' not, 'Who will be the father and the mother?' He could go that route, adopt, but the pain of not having a child that was uniquely his DNA still hurt, and had continued to hurt for some time after the news had been delivered to him. All technical explanations aside, radiation in space from traveling in unshielded Gundams being the main culprit, he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he was screwed down to a genetic level for the rest of his life.

Quatre had taken it well, he had sisters after all. Wu Fei hadn't, but he had poured his anger and loss into finding viable relatives as substitutes. Trowa hadn't seemed to care, but he had a sister as well. Heero... Duo remembered Heero's flat look. The man was a lot more human since the end of the war, but he still had that self sacrificing attitude that made Duo's skin crawl. Being asked to give up his genetic future had probably been acceptable for him, especially when the man was always ready to give his life.

Duo couldn't shake his disappointment and anger, though. He had always been willing to be the one to fight so that others didn't have to, but he had imagined some future free of that sacrifice if it didn't manage to kill him. That future had included family. The details of that family had been fuzzy, but it had included a sprawling home and children. Having it crushed out so abruptly, and replaced with an empty, quiet home with, perhaps, only a lover, seemed a cheat, a last stab of a god that had managed to make his life an endless string of disappointments. It seemed childish to scream, "Not fair!" but it was exactly how Duo was feeling. So, when Commander Une had given him a mission to take out an illegal biolab, it had seemed as if God were trying to redeem himself when Duo found the bioeggs marked with the names of all the Gundam pilots, including himself.

It was illegal to clone. The DNA flaws and the super viruses formed from clones with genetically created immune systems, had decimated thousands. Still, there were people dedicated to making perfect copies of themselves, or others, with genetic enhancements. Somehow, the group that Duo was trying to stop, had managed to obtain untainted DNA from all of them. It was possible. They had all been captured at one time or another. Studied, sampled, tortured, and interrogated, it was more than likely that filed material had survived the war.

The cloning machines had been damaged by the blast charges that Duo had used to get into the lab, though. Lights were flickering and going out. Mixing pumps had stopped. Artificial wombs were cold and hanging from their casings, broken beyond repair. Previous attempts were already dead in their containers. The bank of injectors, with their viable bioeggs, flickered and then went dead. Duo splayed a hand against the metal casings as his men poured over the rubble, looking for survivors. He read the vid chart over and over again, wasting precious time in chilled disbelief.

It was him... and Heero... and Quatre, Trowa, and Wu Fei. These artificial eggs contained their DNA. It was possibly the last bits of themselves, dying quickly and ready to become dust to dust.

"Sir?" One of his men said, snapping a salute. "The area is secure."

Duo took a shuddering breath as he fingered a long, metal insertion tube, meant to inject the eggs into their wombs. "Clean up, gather all files, and make a perimeter sweep," he ordered in a labored voice. "And..." He grabbed the tube and slammed it into his side without giving himself time to think any further. He shuddered all over at the intense pain, and the blood suddenly running down into his pants, as he hit the injection switch and felt two somethings squeeze into his flesh. Nano bots swiftly attached them, not caring what flesh it used as long as it could suck nutrition from it. Like tumors, Duo thought in some horror, or parasites. He barely recognized his voice as he managed to say, "And get me to a doctor... now."

Just a little while, Duo thought, as his men, shocked and then going hurriedly into action, stopped the flow of blood and kept him immobile while they transported him to the nearest hospital. He would have the things deposited into a working womb once he reached it, find a way to pay the exorbitant cost, and... Duo took shuddering breaths as the pain in his side became all encompassing, trying not to see the looks his men were giving him. Yes, it had been a crazy move, and it was very likely not going to work, but Duo had always been a risk taker and, he hated to admit, he was sometimes as self sacrificing as Heero Yuy ever was. For himself, for all of them, Duo had taken the hit. He had to wait now, and see whether that sacrifice was going to be worth it.

Bent over around the terrible pain in his side, Duo stared with disbelief at the surgeon. "You have to destroy them?"

"It's the law," the surgeon told him matter of factly as he studied a computerized chart. When a nurse walked by, he looked up and winked and smiled at her. "Join me for coffee at four, May?"

She smiled back and replied, "I'll be there."

"Hey!" Duo shouted angrily and then gritted his teeth as another wave of pain shook him to the core. He closed his eyes against it and tried to think. "Why? Why destroy them?"

"Cloning is illegal," the surgeon replied, bringing his attention back to his patient. "You're an agent. You know that." He punched through screens on his chart. "Now, I suggest an immediate surgery for removal. I have a three o' clock slot. A little skin regeneration and blood multiplier, and you should be on your way home by... eight. Sound good? Just put your thumb print here." He held out the pad. When Duo glared, he said impatiently, "Agent Maxwell, you cannot carry these eggs to term and no clinic will give you an artificial womb for them. In fact, your body is even now violently rejecting them. If blood loss from the open wound doesn't kill you, then infection most certainly will. Those bio eggs were meant for bioskin being fed with proper levels of nutrients."

Duo battled another jolt of pain, gasping and seeing darkness at the edges of his vision. His genetic future was within the curve of his arms and he was being forced to destroy it. He almost laughed in hysteria, devastated by yet another cruel trick played on him by life. He punched the pad with his thumb, putting the surgeon off balance.

"Go ahead!" Duo shouted as the man and the nurse backed away from him nervously. "Rip them out, kill them, and go have your fucking coffee break!"

The surgeon recovered angrily and said over his shoulder, as he and the nurse exited the consultation room, "They're just a bundle of cells at this point, Agent Maxwell. I'm not killing anything."

"Just a part of me!" Duo exclaimed to the closed door and then curled up around himself and his physical and mental pain.

The door opened again, though, and Duo was ready for violence until he saw that it was Heero. The man looked uncertain. "I saw the report," he said. His eyes went to Duo's side. "They're... there... still?"

"Shit yes!" Duo panted.

Heero seemed tense and anxious. He came to where Duo was huddled in his chair as Duo tried to hide how distraught he was, how close to tears. He looked everywhere but at Heero as he explained, "They're... They're operating... taking them out soon. I was stupid. I just... I should have known... The law." He had to stop, head bowed and hands covering his face.

"Termination?" Heero breathed.

Duo had to try twice before he managed, "Yeah."

He wasn't prepared for Heero's reaction. He heard a choked sound and then he looked up, startled, to see Heero's face running with tears. The man was gone then, rushing from the room and door swinging closed behind him.

"What the fuck?" Duo breathed, shocked and trying to understand.

They had both joined Preventers and their relationship had been a working one. Duo saw Heero during missions when they were partnered, but wasn't apposed to swinging by his office to talk to him when they weren't. Anything outside of that had seemed off limits, though, and Duo couldn't think whether that had been his decision or Heero's.

Heero's dedication to his work was legendary. He lived and breathed Preventers. Duo liked to serve, but he had managed a life outside of that with friends, a simple apartment, and a few comforts. He'd often wondered what Heero did on his off time, but he hadn't crossed that line, he supposed, because Heero could be damned unapproachable when he chose to be and Duo hadn't wanted to threaten what little they had between them, even if it was just simple friendship. In all of their time together, though, Duo had never seen Heero show anything but a centered calm or a tightly controlled intensity. Seeing him weeping openly...

Heero had read Duo's report. He knew what was about to be destroyed. It was affecting him. He cared. Duo could only conclude that Heero had come to the hospital, sharing the same hope, that, somehow, their DNA could survive.

Duo wiped at his own tears and looked up at the clock on the wall. The second hand was ticking away, counting down the time until his future died. His future... Heero's... or perhaps it was Trowa's, Quatre's, or Wu Fei's? He tried to argue with himself, telling himself the odds that he had indeed managed to snag his own DNA... or Heero's. Somehow, just then, that seemed just as important.

Thirty five minutes. A long time to stand the pain he was in, a long time to wait for an operation, and a very short time until...

Duo picked up his electronic chart. It took only a moment to hack in the doctor's codes. He had automatically memorized them when the man had put them in, an old habit from the war that was about to come in very handy.

"Supply of antibiotics," Duo murmured as his fingers flew over the pad, "Supply of blood multiplier." He frowned. The eggs had everything that they needed in the way of development, except for a steady supply of nutrition. They were getting that from him now, sucking him dry, he thought with a shudder, and ordered a supply of nutrition supplements. He put his own name on the order, verified by the good Dr. Butcher, and then hung the pad back on it's platform.

"Time to go." Duo hissed in pain as he levered himself out of the chair. "I have connections still. I can find someone to get these out and put them somewhere safe."

The question was, he thought fearfully, was whether he could make it to those contacts alive.

Slipping out of the room, and down to where he could steal scrubs, was the easy part. Letting his natural charm, and a story about being confused and new, get him the drugs that he needed was harder. Duo knew that he was pale and shaking. It was hard to pass it off as a cold. He saw doubt. He saw some suspicion. In the end, the natural tendency for people to avoid trouble helped him to succeed. Supplies in hand, and scrubs safely hidden, Duo walked out of the hospital with his coat covering many sins.

His car seemed impossibly far. At one point, Duo sat down between two parked cars, his back against a wheel. With the asphalt hot underneath him, he closed his eyes and just tried to breath through the intense pain. When he felt that he could try a few more feet, he levered himself up, moved out from between the cars, and ran straight into Heero.

The man was just standing, looking hard at nothing, and Duo wondered how long he had been like that. His face still looked ravaged by tears, red and splotchy, but the tears weren't falling any longer. Sadness was replaced by shock as Heero grabbed Duo by the elbows to steady him.

"Duo? I thought...?" Heero began, but then cut that off sharply, waiting for Duo to explain.

"Not going to do it," Duo panted. "Getting out of here. You in?"

It wasn't much of an explanation. Duo expected 'By the Book' Heero to lead him back to the hospital and fine him afterward for trying to break the law. Instead, Heero's jaw tightened as emotions swam over his face. Duo couldn't name every expression that he saw, but he knew 'Mission accepted' when he saw it.

"We'll take my car," Heero told him. "It's less conspicuous and it's not registered."

Duo blinked. "What?"

Heero shrugged as he led Duo through the parking lot. "Old habit from the war."

"Down," Heero warned. "We're being scanned."

Duo clutched at his side and sank down into the well of the car's front seat. "Shielded doors?"

Heero smiled tightly and nodded, but then he frowned again as he took a turn off of the main street they had been driving down. He asked, "I need to know... why?"

Duo hooked a leg up onto the seat, past the stick shift, and into Heero's lap to give himself more room. He leaned his head against the car door and stared at Heero. "If you don't know, then why did you help me?"

Heero was quiet, his eyes on the road, and then he said, "I never expected to survive the war. I had nothing... no one... I was ready to accomplish my mission and then die. Now... I started thinking about... a home... a family... When they told us, when the doctor..."

"I know. That's how I felt," Duo replied. He closed his eyes against the pain and felt blood trickling down along his skin. He pressed his side tighter with his hands, a useless, instinctive move to stop a wound that he couldn't reach. He pulled out a booster injector and slammed it home into his arm. It would keep his blood multiplying at a rapid rate, but it was anyone's guess whether it would be enough. It was time to call in his favors.

"Take a right at Hutchinson," Duo told Heero. "Left at Monroe. Five miles. Exit two. Sixteen miles. There's some old worker squats there. I busted the owners for what amounted to slavery, but it wasn't that long ago. The water and electric are probably still running."

Heero gave a nod and made the turn.

Heero glanced down at his lap as Duo's boot rubbed as he shifted to reach his cell phone. His voice sounded uncomfortable and tight as he warned, "Better not."

Duo gave a sickly grin and waggled the cell phone at Heero. "Secure beam and false resonators. I talk and anyone listening gets to hear Grandma Esther complain about her boils."

Heero laughed, short and abrupt. Duo grinned more honestly then.

"I like that laugh," Duo told him as he put the cell to his ear. "Do it more often, Buddy."

"Hey, Phil?" Duo said when a voice answered the phone. "It's Duo. Ah, don't act like you don't know me, man!" He shuddered and gritted his teeth for a moment, but his voice didn't reflect his agony as he continued, "Remember L4 and that underage piece of ass you were dating? Yeah, yeah, she didn't tell you her age, but I stood up for your damned character in court. You could have been dating a two hundred pound man named 'Bull' for ten to twenty, instead of sitting nice and pretty in that office chair, so you owe me big time."

He didn't get much, but it was enough.

"Got it," Duo told Heero. "I've got a surgeon on line who won't ask any questions. He owes Phil."

Heero's expression went dark.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Duo hissed. "It's too illegal for you. Just let me out here and pretend this never happened, okay?"

Heero took a long minute to think and then he said distinctly, "No. When can we get the surgeon?"

Duo felt acute relief. He wasn't sure that he could have gone two steps if Heero had decided to dump him. "Tomorrow. We need to figure out the rest of it before then."

"Quatre," Heero suggested and Duo nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't want to, but I don't see any other way," Duo replied.

"Risky," Heero warned.

"He's kind of tight," Duo agreed. "Who knows how he'll act when I tell him I made myself pregnant and now I need to un-pregnant myself."

"Pregnate," Heero corrected.

"Yeah, whatever," Duo said irritably and then groaned as a wave of pain hit him hard.

"Call him now," Heero urged.

"Worried about me or our kiddies?" Duo ground out, trying for some sort of joke and failing.

Heero gave him a curious glance and then looked back at the road.

"Okay," Duo sighed and punched in Quatre's number. When he reached the man, he told him instantly, "Secure this."

"Done," Quatre said and then quickly, "I've already been told what happened, Duo. Have you lost your mind?"

"How bad is it?" Duo asked.

"Bad," Quatre replied worriedly. "You're high profile. They can't let you flaunt the cloning law. They'll have to make an example of you. Even if you do secure a womb, they'll call for any offspring to be immediately terminated."

"They can't," Duo said with an evil grin.

"May I ask what you have in mind?" Quatre wondered.

"Relena Peacecraft passed a law to make certain that there will never be human extermination orders passed by government decree," Duo explained. "I am the inspiration for that law. I told her one night about my theory that the L2 government had attempted to kill their street people by poisoning them. The law, by default, covers birthed clones as well."

"Birthed clone," Quatre repeated. "They'll make certain that they terminate it before birth."

"Them," Duo corrected him. "I don't know who's though. One of them could be yours, Quatre."

There was a long silence.

"Quatre? I don't have much time," Duo begged. "Come on, man! I don't wanna die doing this, okay? It would make a shitty plaque on my grave, 'Died trying to have babies'. I'd never live it down in Hell, ya know?"

Another silence and then Quatre, sounding very unsure, said, "My father had his own facilities for the Winner family... but they'll be watching for that very thing, Duo!"

"Which is why we won't use it," Duo told him, trying to keep him calm. "I need a layout of some cash, though. We need to get one of our own and the set up for it."

"This is madness!" Quatre exploded. "You are not a doctor, Duo, or a cloning tech! This can't work!"

"It will work," Duo replied firmly. "I just have to call in enough favors."

"And break a lot of laws," Quatre guessed. "You're destroying your life for this, Duo."

"Yeah," Duo replied, quiet and resolved in his course of action, "but, I figure it's worth it."

"Is that Heero's choice as well? Is he with you?" Quatre wanted to know.

"Nope," Duo lied and had to pause a second to grit his teeth, hating that he was forced to it.

"Liar," Quatre sighed, "and a bad one at that. They won't hear it from me, Duo, but they already know that Heero is missing."

"I am not a bad liar," Duo told him.

"On the job, no," Quatre agreed, "But to your friends, yes, you are."

"Still my friend?" Duo wondered.

"Yes," Quatre replied firmly.

"Good," Duo snorted. "I didn't want to have to remind you about the time I tossed my Gundam on a train to save your ass."

"I remember," Quatre chuckled, but then said more seriously, "Be careful."

"Never," Duo snickered. "I'll call back with delivery details."

"I'll be waiting."

Duo closed his cell and said breathlessly. "Need... a minute..."

"We need a place, " Heero told him as he pulled in between two squat buildings sitting precariously on the edge of a sea of scrap metal.

"This is our place... if we can secure it," Duo told him. "There's enough crap going on here to run interference for any machine signatures we put out. We just have to figure out how to get everything hooked up and running."

Heero looked skeptical as he climbed out of the car and came around to the passenger side. When he opened the door, Duo almost fell out onto the ground. Heero caught him and held him. Through the pain and the trepidation, Heero's strong arms were a comfort and Duo allowed the man to carry him into one of the buildings without feeling too embarrassed by his weakness.

It was filthy. The beds were scrap, tumbled over and broken by the raid that had cleared the place out. A food covered hot plate on a makeshift counter, also had a utilitarian plastic sink A toilet was on one wall without any privacy. Booze bottles littered the floor and a few bugs scrambled for safety. Heero's shoe crushed one as he checked a bed. He grimaced at the rough blanket with it's stains, and then put Duo on it.

"Four star, huh?" Duo joked, but his voice shook.

Heero looked as if he didn't know what to do or say next, though Duo knew that every instinct that Heero owned was telling him to secure the building.

"C-Can't take pain killers, Hurt the little guys," Duo explained. His mouth was dry and his stomach wanted to throw up emptiness. "J-Just have to grin and bear it... Like that time Oz tagged and bagged me. Snapped my ribs... a-and other stuff... but I just... didn't hurt like this, though. This is shit!" Duo cried and curled up as he sobbed around the pain. A hand slowly touched his forehead, pushing his sweaty bangs out of his eyes.

"I don't know what to do," Heero told him quietly from where he was crouched by Duo's bedside, hand still poised over Duo's forehead. "Anything... Tell me what to do."

"Ignore me," Duo told him as he closed his eyes. "I just gotta get to tomorrow. I can do it. Maybe... Maybe if I sleep, it won't hurt any more?"

"We have plans to make still," Heero reminded him. "You can't..." but then he stopped and looked as if he had made up his mind about something. Duo saw his intense, blue eyes a moment before Heero's hand moved from his forehead to his neck. Then, everything went dark and Duo fell into merciful oblivion.

TBC

see Kracken's original, published yaoi fiction, The Angel Within, at under Kracken Website:http/kracken. Latest updates at: http/groups. for general fanfiction talk: http/groups. 


	2. Determination

Kracken

Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.  
Warning:Male /male sex, graphic, language, slight mpreg, cloning, violence

1x2

Reflections of You Determination

"Heero?" Duo croaked, but then he felt a firm hand over his mouth and a strong arm holding him painfully tight, though it was a much smaller pain than the one that was threatening to make him scream. That pain ripped through him, radiating from his side like fire through his veins. He tried not to sob, tried not to gasp against that calloused hand smelling of Heero and sweat, knowing that if Heero wanted him silent, then there was a good reason for it.

Rough cement grated where Duo's shirt had rode up and exposed bare skin. Heero was shifting them, moving them into some tight space. Heero settled as Duo opened his eyes and tried to make sense out of what he was seeing. It was dark, but stripes of light were picking out one of Heero's worried eyes and part of his tight mouth. The rest... Duo squinted and then looked up, grimacing. They were underground, squeezed into a small drainage pipe. Light was coming through a grate so small that Duo wondered how they had managed to get through it. Raw places on his body attested to the fact that he hadn't managed it unscathed.

Heero signed against Duo's shaking hand. Discovered. Quiet. Search.

Duo's hope that they would stay secure had been a slim one. With satellite trackers, DNA sniffers, and vids at every point, going unnoticed was nearly impossible. Someone had simply punched in likely scenarios and some computerized brain had decided that one of Duo's missions had offered a perfect hiding place.

Duo rested his cheek against Heero's chest. He was sitting in Heero's lap and there was a pool of water underneath them. Heero was in it and shivering a little from the sensation and the tension. The sounds of vehicles crunching stone and asphalt came to them as if they were in an echo chamber, and then footsteps, muffled talking, and, once or twice, feet passing over the grate. Their pursuers dismissed it as too small, though, and they remained undiscovered as time passed and the bars of light shifted with the sinking sun. Finally, the sounds went away all together, yet Heero continued to sit.

"How far does this go?" Duo wondered.

Heero eyed the narrow tube of cement and the darkness beyond their patch of light. "It crisscrosses under the drainage pipes and then travels to a flow channel. That would be..." he calculated mentally, "Two miles."

"Can't make that," Duo told him despondently, knowing his own limits.

"No," Heero agreed.

"They'll have equipment set up to watch this area now," Duo decided. "That means that we have to get out under darkness and avoid them."

Heero nodded, his eyes raised to the grate. "We have five hours. Use that time to make arrangements."

Duo felt more than his physical pain then as he said, "Heero, the game's over. We should-"

"Is this a game for you?" Heero snapped, looking down at him angrily.

Duo swallowed in a parched throat and felt the sizzle of a fever. Infection was setting in. "No... not... not this. I meant, just cat and mouse with them guys. They can just wait us out and keep us boxed until we give up or I die."

Heero's jaw worked. Both of his arms went around Duo and held him against his chest. "Whatever happens, Duo, I want you to know that I... Thank you."

Duo smiled, but it was stretched lips over gritted teeth. He bumped Heero's collar bone with his forehead. "That's what pals are for... you know?"

Heero was quiet and then he said, "Duo.. would..." He struggled for the right words, but Heero was too blunt for dancing around things emotionally. "Would my... interest... be unwelcome to you?"

Duo snickered, but his heart was clenching in shock even while his mind was telling him that he had heard wrong. "Uhm, I must be getting..."

"Duo," Heero interrupted firmly. "I want you to understand, fully, why I'm doing this, why I'm sacrificing so much to help you. I've had... an interest in you... since the war, but I wanted to mature, to learn about life, about my life, before I pursued any type of ... When I imagined a life... a home... children... you were there with me. I'll understand if this is unwelcome to you. We've never spoken about such things. Perhaps you are heterosexual and the thought of another man-"

"I'm gay," Duo assured him, but it was more of a gulp. He frowned and had two conflicting emotions. The first was excitement about Heero's interest in him, but the second was irritation at the distraction when he needed to be focused on his goal entirely.

""I want you to trust me, to trust my dedication to seeing you safe," Heero finished. "I want you to understand how strong my motivation is, whether you welcome the reason or not."

"Heero..." Duo struggled to make sense as he tried to ride through the pain to a point where he could think. "Interest is good," he managed, "But... we gotta do this now... so, let's get on with it?"

It was hard to track Heero's expression in so little light. It was too much like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing. Whatever he felt about Duo's very short reaction, his momentary pause from focus on their circumstances was over.

"We need cover," Heero announced.

"We need a sensor shield," Duo agreed. He tried to think. He couldn't stop his panting, the trickle of sweat down his brow, or his shaking. He wondered if he felt hot to Heero, pressed against him, and if Heero realized that he was on the fast track now to dying.

After his declaration, Duo didn't think that Heero would appreciate his main thoughts just then. It had little to do with escape and more to do with either being put out of his misery or giving up and having the invaders in his body ripped out. It was hard to summon the proper maternal feelings when his 'children' were attempting to kill him in a very painful manner. Heero's declaration couldn't have come at a better time and Duo wondered if that hadn't been part of Heero's intention. Knowing that the man, who he had secretly desired, felt the same way, and had dreamed of a life with him, did more than anything else to firm his resolve and give him the strength to endure his torment a little longer.

"We need the surgeon," Duo panted. "Everything is shit without him, whether we save the kids or not. We need the womb. We need a safe place to operate it. We need supplies. We need to do all of this in a way no one will suspect."

Duo's mind found it's epiphany. He grinned and fumbled for his cell phone. He put in the numbers by memory and, when a voice answered, he said simply, "Duo. I'm coming in hot in twelve hours." He hung it up and then told Heero. "Okay, baby. Get us the hell out of this hole."

Heero blinked at the new endearment, his grip tightened, and then he began to get them both back up to the grate.

"I can't take him hostage, Duo. I won't go that far," Heero warned as they sat in a stolen car outside of the doctor's home.

"Nice place," Duo said as he looked it over, gauged the security fence, and the likely places for alarms. "Don't worry, Heero. He'll come along. He owes me."

Heero put on his coat to hide a rip in his shirt and the scrape marks from their narrow escape from the drain. It had taken all of their skill to avoid detection, but stealing the car early on had been unavoidable. It had been very apparent that Duo couldn't walk any longer.

"You have the list," Duo breathed as he closed his eyes and sank down against the passenger side door. He felt as if he were burning up, his infection setting in with teeth, and things blurred and spun when he tried to focus on them. It was all that he could do to keep his mind on his plan. "Tell him my status, he'll know what else to bring."

Heero's jaw worked and then he asked, "I've never had to convince someone to commit a crime before. What should I say to him?"

Duo grinned, but it looked sickly in his flushed face. "Tell him I was the one who kept his home from being greased by Oz during the war. He'll remember it, just like I did when I saw the address."

Heero nodded, but he didn't look convinced that the doctor would be sympathetic. They both knew how thin loyalties could be and how obligations could be forgotten.

"This other person that we're going to...," Heero began, but Duo shook his head.

"Don't worry about him. People I trust, you trust," Duo told him firmly. "He's family... sort of. I kept him alive on the streets when we were younger. He's not on the grid, so we don't have to worry about some brain figuring out our next move."

"You're troubled," Heero pointed out.

Duo used a trembling hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. "Yeah, I don't like calling on him. He's done good for himself. Nobody likes to be reminded of bad days and ours were pretty bad. Still... he's all I got left from them. Everyone else..." He trailed off and there was a tight set to his lips that spoke of more than physical pain. "They didn't do so well..."

There was a moment when the world blacked out and Duo had to climb back into consciousness. Heero was still there, checking his gun and zipping up his coat, only he seemed to be sitting in a red haze that throbbed with every beat of pain.

"I... must be bleeding good," Duo mumbled, closing his eyes.

"We used the last shot," Heero replied. "I'll get you more, whatever this man decides."

"Good." Duo breathed. "Hurry." He opened his eyes long enough to check his watch and then he closed them again. "We've got four hours."

"Duo," Heero said with something in his voice... fear, Duo realized. "Don't die... please."

It was said in such a 'mission tone' that it would have been hard for anyone, but Duo to hear the real emotion behind it. He did, though, and he reached out and squeezed Heero's arm. "If the Devil wants me, he's going to have to drag me kicking and screaming to hell."

Heero took that for a promise, nodded, and then left the vehicle.

The wait was long. Duo heard footsteps close by several times, and hoped that Heero was returning, but they passed by. A few birds landed on the hood and one eyed Duo as if hoping for scraps.

"Get outta here," Duo hissed. "Not dead yet."

The bird hopped and then flew away as if startled, though Duo knew that he hadn't spoken loud enough for anyone but himself to hear. He tried to keep his mind on the plan, on variables, and on failure, but it was much easier to think about Heero and Heero's confession, that the man was helping him because of his feelings for Duo. Duo wanted to laugh at himself, but knew that it would hurt too much. He'd never really been afraid of Heero, always knowing, somehow, that the man would never hurt him, but he had still kept his mouth shut and kept the ignorance between them stoked to it's fullest. Considering Heero's reasoning, he supposed that he had felt some of that as well, that they had been too young, had too much baggage, and had needed to find their feet. The full truth, though, was that Duo hadn't been afraid of physical retaliation, he had been afraid of Heero's verbal rejection. It had seemed much safer to have the promise of a 'someday' than to end it with a 'here and now'. 'Here and now' had come, though, when they had the least ability to deal with it.

There was the sound of a large car pulling up. Duo pulled his gun until he saw it was Heero and the doctor. As he opened the car door, the doctor explained, "We're taking my car."

"T-Tracking devices," Duo warned unnecessarily to Heero.

"Disabled," the doctor told him. "Old habit from the war."

And then Heero was opening his door and scooping him up far too fast and rough as he all but stuffed Duo into the back seat of an SUV. The doctor climbed in right after him and slammed the door closed as Duo curled up and stuffed his shirt tail into his mouth to muffle his screams.

"Goddam!" The doctor exclaimed as he began dragging equipment out of medical bag. "I feel like a field medic again."

Heero climbed into the driver's seat with another bag of equipment and then drove the SUV away from the house. He glanced back at Duo and then barked, "Stay down."

The doctor sat low and leaned on Duo to keep him still as he hooked him to several monitoring devices. "Tough shit, aren't you?" the doctor muttered in what as probably his 'field side manner'. "Don't worry, son, I'm the best. I'll get you through this. You just hold still and let me do my magic."

Duo felt his heart labor in his chest with each shot that was administered as his body was rallied and called on to fight a little longer.

"That's it, that's it..." the man muttered to himself. "Come on back, son... Stabilize, dammit."

Fingers gently checked the injection area.

"Next time you do this," the man said, "Aim more to the center. The gut is a hell of a lot more tolerant of parasites."

"Y-You're talking about my kids," Duo chuckled weakly.

"Yep, one tough shit," the doctor laughed back. "Now for some sleepy time, son. Don't worry, this won't hurt your cargo."

Duo could have kissed the man, or donated a kidney, or... he fell into blissful oblivion, hoping that Heero was on guard for him... and then knowing that he would be and not worrying at all.

TBC

see Kracken's original, published yaoi fiction, The Angel Within, at under Kracken Website:http/kracken. Latest updates at: http/groups. for general fanfiction talk: http/groups. 


	3. Under

Kracken

Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.  
Warning:Male /male sex, graphic, language, slight mpreg, cloning, violence

1x2

Reflections of You

Under

"Duo... wake up... Duo..."

Duo struggled to climb back to consciousness, feeling as if that voice had been calling him forever. The pain was still there, still eating him alive. He whimpered against it before he chewed down on one lip.

"That's it, Gundam boy," the doctor in his ear. "You've got work to do. No time for sleeping."

Duo finally willed his heavy lids open. Heero was looking down into his face and the doctor's face was close by it, looking anxious. Danger, Duo's mind surmised. He did have to wake up. They needed him.

"Won't let you in, right?" Duo guessed and shocked himself by how thin his own voice sounded.

"Security gate with an old beam cannon ready to fire," Heero explained.

"Scav was always good at getting the impossible," Duo snickered. "Just for show, though. You know that shit doesn't work. They all had their internals melted down."

Heero frowned as if insulted. "Yes, I do know," he retorted, "But, I can see signs that he has other weapons. I thought that you said that he had done well for himself?"

Duo snorted. "I didn't say legally. Why do you think he's off the grid?"

"Code?" a voice asked as if bored. "If you don't have it, I have nothing to say to you."

Duo looked around blearily and then saw the overgrown pipe they were crouched by. It had gundanium bars blocking it and an array of openings that Duo was certain held weapons. On top of the opening crouched the beam cannon, overgrown with ivy.

"Knock, knock, Scav," Duo managed weakly and couldn't help a tight grin. "You know we don't have any damned code. Stop shitting with them and let us in."

A voice chuckled. "I don't even need a voice verifier for that. You said you were hot, but I don't detect any scans in the area."

"They ain't lookin' for no rat in a damned hole, that's why," Duo drawled back, but then panted in pain and bit out. "Let's us in, Scav."

"You got it, kid," the voice replied. "Door's always open for you."

The gate popped it's lock and Heero and the doctor carried Duo inside along with their equipment. A tall, skinny man, with large, blue eyes, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans covered in holes, met them halfway up a tunnel. Those eyes widened when he saw the shape that Duo was in.

"You weren't kiddin'," he exclaimed. "You are hot! Get 'em in here!"

Duo faded. For how long, he wasn't sure, but it was a surface under his back, and administered shots, that brought him around again. He blinked and tried with a tremendous effort to keep himself in the here and now. "Quatre making the delivery?"

"En route," Heero replied. It had been taking a chance, having it delivered without knowing what their welcome would be, but Duo knew that his time was running out and that there hadn't been any choice.

"Looking good, Scav," Duo breathed as he smiled at his one time 'street brother'.

"Wish I could say the same for you," Scav replied. "You look like shit, Duo. What the hell's goin' on?"

"This is going to sound... stupid...," Duo replied, "but... can't have kids... messed up DNA. Found a batch of eggs with my DNA in a lab during a raid, embryos from before I was messed up. I... I stuck them in my body, thinking I could transfer 'em. Didn't work out like that, though. Government wants 'em dead," he slurred and fought to keep his eyes open. "Gotta run... gotta get them out now."

"He only has two hours, at the most, before he passes the point of no return," the doctor said as he set up his equipment.

"You're... pregnant!" Scav finally burst out in disbelief, face pale.

Duo grimaced. "I jammed them into my side. I am not fucking pregnant, moron!"

"Stop talking," the doctor ordered sharply. "Conserve your strength for staying alive."

Heero pushed Scav backward and helped the doctor set up his equipment. Duo persisted in talking, though, knowing that he was losing the battle for consciousness. "Scav, I need ports for an artificial womb. If you tell me, in all this crap you're dealing in, that you don't have that..."

Scav blinked, stunned, and then came to life again as he nodded. "Ports for bio units are the same. They're for major accident victims. I know I've got some... somewhere around here." He looked dubiously around him at the racks and stacks of equipment and the blinking banks of computer screens.

"Gotta find them," Duo breathed and then had to close his eyes against the pain. "Can't take much more of this... hell, I'm ready to end it right now."

"What a load of crap!" Scav exclaimed in disgust. "You gotten soft, Duo?"

Duo glared without opening his eyes. "Fuck you!"

"Not likely, I'm not the gay one," Scav shot back with a snicker. "Hang in there, buddy. We'll get those freeloaders outta you in no time."

Duo nodded once and then grabbed the doctor's arm. "Please... another shot, okay?"

The doctor grunted and administered it. "When you wake up, you won't have the eggs any longer."

He didn't have to say that Duo might not be waking up at all.

It was confusing. There was a long time of almost waking and then falling under again... and then panicked voices and pain, terrible, pain... and then nothing again. It wasn't good to be so aware of one's own mortality, one's own chances of survival, and Duo found himself waiting for death. Would there be an afterlife? Would he know when he died or would there just be an endless... nothing? The voices and touches he felt from time to time seemed only an unwelcome distraction from his inner contemplation. When consciousness returned, it was a sudden shock.

Bright lights, something crushing his hand, an irritating tube in his nose and in his arm, were his first indication that he was alive. He blinked, his brain trying to orient itself, and became aware that it was Heero who was holding tightly to his hand.

"What a tough little shit," the doctor's voice said on his other side and Heero gave a grim smile. "I wouldn't have put a dollar on his chances of pulling through."

"You call that pullin' through?" Scav's voice asked. "I've seen flattened road kill that looked better than that!"

"Love you too," Duo croaked and then winced as it moved the tube in his sore throat. He squeezed Heero's hand and tried to focus on his face. "You okay?" Duo managed.

Hero looked pale, his eyes dark and sunken, as if he hadn't slept in some time. He nodded tightly and replied, "So are our children."

Children. Duo had to think about that and didn't understand until he realized that 'children' was another term for the evil parasites that had been eating him alive. Combining it with 'Our' further confused him. "Are they... ours?" he wondered.

"I don't have any way of knowing," the doctor said as he inserted another tube into Duo's arm and taped it down. "With some DNA equipment..."

"I have a DNA sniffer," Scav offered. He was perched on a large engine block, his blue eyes concerned. "Won't do any good until they're born, though."

The doctor frowned. "That's something that I can't guarantee. The eggs were stressed and the womb is substandard, as well as not being designed for two babies. They may not survive."

Duo was finding it hard to care at that point. He had done his best for them, but now he was afraid for his own life. He felt shaky and not all together clear headed. He said, thinking his thoughts out loud, "If they aren't mine... or Heero's... They go to whoever they belong to."

"Aren't you a cold bitch of a mama," Scav snickered.

Duo glared, but could only see his one time street brother as a blur. "I ain't nobody's mama, asshole. If they aren't ours, then we don't have any right to them."

"Stop talking," the doctor warned. "You need rest, fluids, and antibiotics. The eggs need nine months to grow. You have plenty of time to acquire an internal DNA decoder, and to decide who will get them."

Duo blinked, trying hard to think. "We should go, Heero... lead any searches on a goose chase."

"I refuse to stay here nine months," the doctor complained. "I owe you a great debt, but I have a family."

"I'll take care of the tykes," Scav offered. "I always wanted to be an 'uncle'."

""I think you're right," Heero agreed. "The wombs only need power. They are entirely self contained units."

Duo tried to adjust the painful tube in his nose and the doctor slapped it away. "It's cleaning out your lungs," he warned. "You had fluid build up."

"How long before I'm mobile?" Duo asked.

The doctor shrugged. "If you're good, three weeks. I'll stay that long to supervise your recovery."

"Then we're out of here, Heero, okay?" Duo focused on Heero. He was still finding it hard to believe that the man was sticking with him. He was looking for doubt, regret, second thoughts, but, instead, he saw a firm determination.

"I know a few places that might be secure for short durations," Heero replied. "We'll make certain we're seen and then lie low."

"Scav, " Duo warned. "You mess this up and I'll..."

"Hey, when have I ever messed up?" Scav grinned. "I'll get stuffed teddies for the kiddies, tell them bedtime stories, and get nice stickers to put on their womb glass. Don't worry about a thing, mama."

"Call me that again and I'll shove that engine block up your ass," Duo snarled.

Scav laughed. "What happened to maternal instincts?"

Duo left long before the doctor prescribed, but Heero was there to help him, and there wasn't much for them to do, but move from one safe place to another and lie low. In a dilapidated cabin in the mountains, they found their longest opportunity to rest and make plans for their future.

The scenery was rugged, jagged mountain peaks punching through a vast expanse of pine forest and the threat of snow a constant worry. The cabin lacked electricity and running water, and was barely proof against the elements, but heating cells at night to supplement a fireplace, and a wood stove, made it bearable.

Huddled in blankets, and warm socks and sweaters, they kept their hands warm around mugs of coffee and kept their bed close to the fireplace. At first, they had tried to sleep separately, feeling as if they were on a mission and wanting things just as professional between them, but barriers had broken down quickly in the face of a freezing ice storm one night, and they hadn't separated their sleeping arrangements since.

It felt good to lean against Heero, Duo thought, and to not do it because he was weak or in pain. The wind howled outside, but they were in a comfortable globe of peace. It seemed the perfect time to finally talk.

"So, when did you realize that I wasn't just an annoying part of your day?" Duo asked softly as he stared into the flickering flames of the fireplace.

Heero tensed, maybe not having expected a personal talk, but then he relaxed and wrapped arms around Duo gently, still careful of his tender side. They hadn't indulged in anything other than what two friends might do together, but there had been an undercurrent of desire that they had both felt.

"I've always known, since the moment we met, that I was attracted to you," Heero admitted, "but I couldn't act on that feeling. There was always things that I had to dedicate myself to entirely. It seemed something that was going to forever go unexplored. Then, after the war, we both seemed to be 'waiting'. I didn't feel that it was the right time... and I don't think that you did either."

"No," Duo admitted, "But I thought about it a lot... about you."

Heero smiled and said, "I'm a difficult person to be with. I think that I wanted to become less of a soldier, to grow used to the idea that I didn't have to sacrifice everything anymore. It was hard to... stand down."

Duo nodded. "I saw that. I felt... like I was stepping where I didn't belong when I tried to get closer to you. I... I needed to grow up some more," he admitted critically.

"What..." Heero licked dry lips and then tried again. "If we do have children... how... how should we proceed?"

Duo chuckled and it sounded almost hysterical. "I don't have a clue," he replied. "I'm just as blind as you are. It was a spur of the moment thing, what I did. I wasn't making detailed plans at the time... or later. Any ideas?"

"They need a proper home, a schedule, and a good school," Heero began, but then frowned. "You wanted to be a father... did that include raising your children?"

"No, Heero, I intended to knock a few girls up and then take a vacation to L4," Duo teased. "Of course I was thinking I'd be in the picture; raising them, telling them right from wrong... though I was hoping someone else would be there to do diapers."

Heero grimaced.

Duo saw it and said, more seriously, "There's good and bad, Heero. You know that, right?"

Heero went very thoughtful and then he nodded gravely.

"So..." Duo stared at him, swallowed hard, and then said, "If that's okay with you, helping with diapers... and bad nights when they cry a lot... and... well, are you gonna be there?"

Heero's eyes came up and locked with Duo's. "Do you want me to be there?"

Duo shoved Heero roughly and grinned. "Who else, Bonehead!"

Heero regained his balanced and smiled softly in return. "No one else," he replied firmly.

"No, " Duo agreed and leaned into Heero with other intentions. "No one else." Then he captured Heero's lips with his own.

TBC 


	4. Timetables

Kracken

Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.  
Warning:Male /male sex, graphic, language, slight mpreg, cloning, violence

1x2

Reflections of You

Timetables

"See, all nice and comfy!"

Scav grinned from the vid screen and then panned it so that it showed the hulking unit holding the fetuses. Several stuffed bears were set before the monitor window and Duo could just make out balloon stickers. Scav pushed the bears aside and Duo saw the faint outlines of two babies floating in their nutrient fluid.

"They..." Duo was at a loss for words as he put a hand against the screen in awe. His mind had still been thinking of them as bio eggs. Now, he was confronted by the reality of his situation. Those were children, babies, his babies.

Scav snickered, guessing his thoughts. "Looks like Mama and Daddy were so busy on their tour of the world, that they forgot about what it was all about."

"No," Duo retorted with a scowl and then his scowl smoothed out as he stared at his children again. "It just didn't hit me... until right now... They're..." He swallowed hard.

"People... little people... but people," Scav finished.

Scav ran hands through his hair and stomped around his workroom. He came back a moment later with a chart. He thumped it with a long finger. "See this. I've been keeping track of deep probes. Good thing I have deflectors or our ass would have been grass a long time ago. Some of these were too close for fucking' comfort."

His street brother was risking a hell of a lot, Duo thought. "Thanks, Scav. I owe you... big time."

Scav snorted and chucked the chart aside. "It all comes around eventually, Duo, you know that. We gotta look out for each other. Sides, these are the only nephews I'm gonna get, right?"

Duo went pale. "Boys... both of them?"

"Yeah," Scav replied with another grin, and then he scratched his head and said, "but you know, that doc managed a DNA scan, and you gotta know-"

There was a loud thrum. Scav became alert and he jumped for a power cable. He slammed it into a port and then swore as he began adjusting switches. "Damn assholes cut my source power again. Later, bro! I have to get out and link up to another cable before my generators lose juice."

The vid screen went blank. Duo ground his teeth, wondering what Scav had been about to say. He was afraid that it was bad news, but he had been prepared to learn that neither children had his DNA. The pain wouldn't be any less when he had it confirmed, but he was still ready to do the right thing and give the children over to one of his friends.

"I should call them," he mumbled as he pulled on his coat, wrapped his scarf around his throat, and left Heero sleeping in the bedroom as he went outside to get more wood for the fireplace. He tried to think of a way to explain, to tell Wu Fei and Trowa, or even Quatre, to prepare for a ready made child.

My career ruined, my reputation, and my record, Duo thought with mounting depression, as he flipped his braid behind him and reached down to pick up logs from a pile. The snow was deep and cold. His fingers fumbled as he tried to pull the logs out from under it. For nothing, his thoughts continued. Or was it? Two new lives were starting. Who knew what they would become? Maybe it was all going to be worth it...

Duo's side warned him that it wasn't going to take his abuse. Duo growled in annoyance as he began to drop the logs that he had been about to add to his armload. Hating that he had to make two trips, he was relieved when hands reached to take the logs from him.

"Thanks, Heero, " he began, but then looked up and froze when he saw that it was Wu Fei.

"Don't reach for your gun," Wu Fei warned in a bored tone. "I'm not here to arrest you."

"How did you find us?" Duo demanded as he looked around them, expecting agents to boil out of the trees at any moment.

"Yuy and I used this cabin during the war. I remembered it and took the chance that you would use it," Wu Fei bent to pick up more logs. He was dressed warmly all in white, to blend with the snow, and he was wearing a light pack. He nodded towards the cabin. "Shall we?"

Duo considered his options and then decided that he really didn't have any short of killing his friend.

"You should have called me," Trowa said to Wu Fei as he emerged from the woods, walking as if he had been taking a stroll. He too was wearing a light pack and a parka type coat.

Wu Fei and Duo both turned, startled.

"Well, I didn't know I was having a party," Duo growled sarcastically. "I hope you brought beer and chips?"

"How did you know about this place?" Wu Fei wondered, frowning.

Trowa smiled from behind his long hair and replied, "Quatre remembered a story Heero once told of being almost frozen to death in a cabin high in these mountains. Considering best places to place a hunting cabin, I checked several sites before I found this one."

"Okay, so I guess we have to be leaving now that everyone knows where we're living," Duo snarled angrily."While we pack, you can tell me and Heero why you're here."

"I can tell you now," Wu Fei replied as he shifted the weight of his load of logs. "I want to know if the children that you carried are mine."

Duo nodded, understanding that need, but he looked at Trowa and Trowa wasn't nodding. "What about you?"

"The children are four months from birth," Trowa replied. He put his hands in his pockets and regarded them both seriously. "Quatre has been attempting to contact you, without success. He's found out that the government is trying to pass legislation to allow the 'elimination' of birthed clones. Your crime prompted it."

"Which means they're clueless as to where we are," Duo grunted. He motioned with his chin towards the cabin. "Come on, let's fill Heero in. Be careful, though, his trigger finger is a lot quicker than mine and he doesn't like surprises."

Months slid by without contact from anyone, Heero and Duo convinced that silence was safest. Scav must have came to the same conclusion. He didn't contact them during that entire time. Forced into seclusion, Heero and Duo's relationship deepened. Duo was surprised to find that he and Heero were more like good friends than lovers. They weren't prone to romance or overt shows of affection. They both liked things easy and plain between them, even in bed. Duo had found Heero a strong, yet attentive lover and they had found each others likes and dislikes easily. Duo liked to be spontaneous, but he also liked the lights low when they undressed. Heero liked nothing better than to pump deep into Duo, but he did sometimes prefer that Duo rise above him and take him with slow patience. Out of bed, Heero hated onions and Duo hated greens. Duo liked scented, masculine soaps, and Heero was more concerned with their anitbacterial properties. Their ideas about raising children caused them to argue and make lists long into the evenings, but their idea of home was one in the same. A quiet town, a good school, and a peaceful community. Both of them had decided that their dangerous career as Preventers had to end. They had others to think about now. 

The argument over cloning went on in the government, with Relena Peacecraft a surprising swing vote. She sat the fence with skill, never revealing her true thoughts on the matter, while postponing the vote time and time again. Quatre was a frustrated voice, always on the news vids denouncing the inhuman consequences of the law. Science was their enemy, though, and escaping the simple truth that cloning caused havoc, was impossible. They could see their loss looming large and Heero and Duo began to add false identities to their plans. It was very possible that they would never be able to come out of hiding.

Thinking those kind of thoughts, in a seedy motel room, Duo fingered his long braid. "I can pay someone to change my eye color and take some inches off my cheeks, but this hair can go for free."

Heero took hold of it and ran the braid through strong hands, frowning. "You'll look strange without it. Are you sure?"

Duo rolled eyes at him as he pulled away and flopped on the hard bed. "Unless I put on a skirt, everyone's going to be staring at the guy with the long assed braid. It's stupid to keep it tucked under my jacket for the rest of my life." He quirked a smile. "Don't really need it anymore anyway. I kept it braided because of Sister Helen and Father Maxwell. I owed them. I guess they got their revenge, and then some, though, so...it's stupid to keep it now."

Heero didn't understand. Duo had never told him about his need to avenge the only 'parents' he had ever known. Heero gripped Duo's shoulders and looked into his eyes as if trying to read there how Duo really felt about it. Heero suspected something, but not enough. Finally backing away, he said, "Don't. Not until we know for sure how the vote is going to turn out."

Duo let the braid go and turned on the news vids. "Hey, it's Trowa and Fei," he announced and sat on the edge of the bed with the remote. Heero turned to watch the screen, curious.

The news person talked about court orders and questioning while the images of their friends hovered behind her.

"Guess someone figured out they'd seen us," Duo snorted as he flicked the news off again. He flopped backwards again and let go of the remote. He lost his frown of concern as Heero climbed on top of him and looked down into his face, dark hair hanging in his blue eyes.

"Uhm, you want something there, Heero buddy?" Duo wondered.

"Yes," Heero replied in a very serious tone as he looked down between them as if searching for something.

"That would be...?" Duo wondered.

"You," Heero chuckled and then looked up again as he claimed a deep kiss. It turned predatory almost at once and his body lowered full length on top of Duo. His hands intertwined with Duo's, above his lover's head, and they clasped hands while Heero broke the kiss and nipped and licked along Duo's neck.

"You're good at that," Duo mumbled as he reached down and tried to make room in his jeans for his growing erection."Our friends are taking the fall for us and all you can think about is... you know?"

"Their choice," Heero said against the heat of Duo's skin. "I'm grateful to them. That doesn't preclude me from continuing on with... this..." He claimed Duo's lips again and delved inside of Duo's mouth with his tongue.

"Hey! Not in front of the children!" Scav's voice said from the vid phone.

Heero shot up, gun in hand, and Duo was hardly slower as he shoved himself to a sitting position and jerked out a knife.

Duo took a shuddering breath and then shouted, "Scav! Stop hacking the vid line feed! I don't think you want an eye full of what me and Heero were about to do, am I right?"

Scav looked put upon as he sighed and swivelled the vid screen. They had a fuzzy view of his long fingered hands. "I'm bringing you good news, but if you'd rather screw..."

Duo was off the bed and bending over to glare at the dirty hands. "Look, asshole! You're the one that kept fricken' silence for four months. You tell me who should be pissed! I wanna know what's going on!"

Scav chuckled and then he uncovered the screen. They had a view of a very clean room, two bassinets, their doctor looking pleased and embarrassed at the same time, and Scav as he backed away from the screen.

"We moved to one of my retreats," the doctor explained.

"Yeah," Scav interjected. "They were getting too damned close and I didn't want them catching our sigs. I've invested too damned much in these kids and my hidey hole."

Duo felt fear grip him as well as a hope he hardly dared voice. Scav grinned at him.

"Well?" Scav prompted. "Are you gonna ask?"

Duo reached out and gripped Heero's arm hard. The man was standing close to him now, leaning towards the screen just as he was. "Are those...?"

Scav laughed as he pulled the vid line up and angled it to look into the bassinets. Two babies, both with dark, fuzzy hair, squirmed under blankets. "Meet baby boy one and baby boy two, born five hours ago."

"Who's?" Heero asked in a choked voice as he reached out and touched the screen.

The doctor looked nervous. "Well," he said. "That's the problem."

"Spit it out!" Duo shouted. Heero gripped him around the waist and gave him a small shake. Duo took a deep breath to get control of himself. "Doc?" Duo grated.

The doctor blinked and then replied, "It was difficult getting samples from the other pilots to confirm my findings without giving away our position. Now that my conclusions have been confirmed, I can safely say, with certainty, that these children are not clones."

"But, I saw..." Duo cut that short and asked instead, "What makes you think that?"

"They are a combination of DNA samples from sperm," the doctor replied. "They have some of your genetic markers, but they also contain some from each of the other pilots as well."

Duo went red and spluttered. "You mean, while I was locked up with Oz, they... stole some... they took a sample?"

"Well, we can't know that for certain...," the doctor replied uncomfortably, "But we can assume so."

Duo stared at the children. It took his mind a long while to make any coherent thought. "Then, the other guys have just as much right to them as I... as we do."

"It would seem so," the doctor agreed. "There are no laws against mixing DNA from sperm."

"So, we're home free," Scav interjected, leaning his long body into the vid screen shot. "They passed that law against birthed clones a few minutes ago, with Mizz Relena signing onto it."

Duo scowled and Heero growled under his breath, "Relena!"

The doctor tried to calm them. "It was a necessary law," he replied. "I know it's difficult to conscience such things when you hold life in your hands... but the lives of millions, who might die from clone produced viruses and genetic defects, have to be taken into account as well."

"Candy coat it all you like, doc," Duo snarled. "I'm not going to stop being pissed because it isn't my kids on death row any more." He gripped the vid screen. "I want to know where you are Scav. I need to bring the other guys in on this now."

TBC 


	5. Arrangements

Kracken

Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.  
warning:Male/male sex, slight M-preg, violence, language, graphic.

Reflections of You

Arrangements.

"Are you guys ready?" Duo asked as he looked at the nervous men standing around him.

Wu Fei nodded firmly, Trowa shrugged, Quatre swallowed hard, and Heero looked as if he were about to run behind enemy lines.

"They're just kids, guys!" Duo growled as he opened the door. "Get a grip!"

" 'Bout time," Scav grumbled. Seated on the carpet of one of Quatre's bungalows, he was waving a stuffed bunny at one of the babies rolling about the carpet. The doctor was standing behind him, looking on as if he were supervising.

They all stood and looked down at the babies. They were strong and perfect, dark hair messy little mops on their round heads. Duo was the first to crouch and looked closer. He grinned. "Hey, blue eyes, both of them."

"I think this one's starting to get purple, though," Scav disagreed. "Doc says they almost always start blue."

"Yeah?" Duo looked even more pleased. "He's got my chin too."

Wu Fei grunted. "He's a baby, Duo."

Duo rubbed his chin. "The other one doesn't have it."

Quatre bent down and frowned. "I don't see anything of me."

"Maybe their toes," Duo chuckled. "I'm sure you're in there somewhere."

Duo sat on the carpet and gingerly picked a baby up in his arms. Scav was right there showing him how to hold it properly. Duo snickered at him. "Maybe we should hire you as a nanny?"

Scav made a face. "And be on the grid? No, thanks. I think I'll stay the mysterious uncle and find another hidey hole."

Duo looked at his son with fascination. He felt a thrill in the pit of his stomach and a bit of fear as he looked up at the others.

"Well?" he asked softly. "What do we do? All live together and raise them, or draw straws?"

Wu Fei crossed his arms over his chest tightly. "It's enough to know that my DNA survives. I don't have any inclination to raise children."

"Don't look at me," Trowa snorted.

Quatre hesitated. He reached out for the other baby and picked it up. "I think I might want to raise my children."

"Heero?" Duo nodded and then gave Heero a serious look "What're you thinking?"

Heero seemed overwhelmed. He put a hand to his mouth as if to hide some strong emotion and then he said softly, "I want to know my sons... very well."

Duo cradled their son. Holding him, he felt a strong urge to keep them both safe, but he wasn't under any illusion as to how little he knew about taking care of babies.

"I know we made plans, Heero, but..." Duo nuzzled a soft cheek with his nose and that baby made a happy, gurgling sound, "I think we need help. Quatre has an entire staff that can show us what to do. Maybe we should consider staying with him and the kids?"

Quatre nodded eagerly. "That would be fine with me," he agreed.

Heero seemed relieved. He lowered his hand, revealing a smile as he looked down at Duo. "I'd like that," he replied.

Duo grinned back, but the doctor erased that expression when he pointed out, "We still have to report all of this to the authorities. We still have to try to paint your defection and defiance of the law in a light that will save you from jail sentences."

Quatre straightened, cradling his son close. "That's what lawyers are for, Doctor, and I have a great deal of them. It's time they earned their keep."

"They might try to take the babies away," Duo thought, feeling fear grip him. "What if they don't think we're-"

"Then I'll make sure they go with me again," Scav said, cutting his worries off. "They won't keep our kids locked up with strangers. The thing to do is test the waters first. Don't let 'em know where the kids are until we know how things are."

"The rest of us didn't break the law," Wu Fei pointed out, "at least as far as the authorities know. We can claim paternity and take them if we must."

Duo nodded, but he wasn't completely convinced that everything would go their way. He was too used to the things he loved being ripped from him. He wouldn't go public without at least a few back up plans, he decided, just in case.

Duo stared at the 3-D vid of his sons as they waited for their meeting with government officials. Heero sat beside him in a stiff backed chair, the reflective, cherry wood meeting table seeming a vast landscape before them. Guards stood on the opposite side of that surface, watching Heero and Duo nervously.

"No lawyers," Duo murmured as he decided that, yes, one of his sons was going to inherit his eyes. "Armed guards. Not a good way to start."

"We're presenting our proof and our reasoning," Heero replied as he traced a pattern on the table with one, blunt finger. "Charges haven't been leveled yet."

"If you think they'll let us walk out of here, free as birds..." Duo growled.

Heero shot him a look. "If you think I'm not prepared..."

Duo smiled. He pointed to his other son, "He has your cheeks."

"Michael Maxwell," Heero said, leaning in to look as well. "It was good that everyone agreed to name him after Scav."

Duo nodded and snickered. "It's not like he uses it. Dutro Quhecha Maxwell is going to be explaining his name his entire life,  
though." He looked embarrassed. "You really didn't have to give them my last name."

"You sacrificed the most," Heero told him and then grimaced. "It would have been better, though, if we could have agreed to name the second child something else."

Duo rolled eyes at him. "No one could agree. Condensing all of our names, seemed a time saving solution. He can always change it later."

Heero grunted.

"Seems kind of overwhelming, doesn't it?" Duo said as he smiled at the vid. "Being parents."

"We haven't been given much of a chance yet," Heero complained.

"We will," Duo scowled determinedly. "As soon as we straighten these people out."

The door opened and Relena and her council entered, looking very serious. They arranged themselves in their chairs around the table and Relena positioned herself directly across from them, a sheaf of documents in her manicured hands.

"Good day, gentleman," Relena began. "We are pleased that you've decided to comply with our orders to present yourselves before us. We are ready to hear your arguments and hope, that you will listen to our council as well."

"Sure," Duo replied nervously, swallowed, and then shot his paperwork across the table to Relena.

"Doctor reports," Duo told her. "Our kids are not clones,  
they are a genetic mixture of our sperm."

She opened and looked over the documents, studied the seals,  
and stamps, and then slid it over to an expert seated beside her,  
looking relieved. "That resolves a very grave matter."

"I bet," Duo grunted.

"Other things still need resolution," a man down the table from Relena growled. "You willfully broke many laws, committed violence, and ignored our will."

"To save two, innocent lives from a mistake," Heero replied quietly. "We risked ourselves to keep the government from executing it's own citizens until proof could be presented to clear them of their clone status."

Relena looked uncomfortable. She had to thread a needle of law and a desire to keep Heero and Duo out of prison. Duo didn't trust her, but Heero was looking confident that she would find a way to free them.

It was a long, drawn out process. They were forced to receive severe lectures, sentenced to community time, and ordered to make public announcements about their mistakes. They would be under a two year probation. Any further crimes would be punished to the full extent of the law.

Duo almost nodded off several times and Heero looked angry through most of it. When everyone had spoken, Heero pulled out papers and presented them to Relena. "The children, Michael and Dutro, will be under the guardianship of Duo, myself, and Quatre Winner. In the event that we are compromised, guardianship will fall to Trowa Barton and Chang Wu Fei."

Relena clasped her hands and looked down at the papers. "This will be taken under advisement."

Duo started. "What?"

"The children were part of an illegal operation," Relena reminded them. "Therefore they should be placed under the authority of special services until your competence, and legal standing, as guardians can be established."

"Taken from the brightest and the best," Duo sneered. "The military been talking to you already?"

Relena looked angry. "No. We are at peace. We don't condone the development of weapons, human or machine."

"I'm sure there's people who don't agree with you," Heero told her. "Make certain they aren't the ones convincing you to take this course of action."

Relena looked concerned and then said, "I will take that advice, Mr. Yuy. Now, if you will give the children over to our custody..."

Duo grinned. "Sure, sure, we'll go get them. They're our kids, so, I'm not worried that we won't get to be their parents in the end. You're a fair person. I trust you."

Relena inclined her head in acknowledgment as both Duo and Heero stood up.

"About an hour and we'll have the kids here," Duo promised.

"Make the call," one of the council said. "We won't allow you to leave this building until they are in our custody."

"Yeah, I can understand that," Duo sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll use the lobby phone. My cells dead."

The councilman nodded to a guard to follow them. The man gripped his rifle and nervously followed in their wake as Heero and Duo went into the lobby of the council chambers.

Duo said over his shoulder to the guard, "You can either step back and pretend we over powered you, or you can end up with some broken bones... at the very least."

The guard went wide eyed and then replied in a frightened voice, "I knew this would happen."

"Your choice," Heero ground out.

"I'd like to live, please, unhurt," the guard replied.

"Good choice," Duo snickered. "See ya."

The guard watched as Heero and Duo both darted into the milling crowd in the lobby. He counted for a few seconds, until he felt reasonably safe, and then shouted, "They've escaped!"

Duo sat back in his chair, tense and frowning as Heero paced the floor, jiggling Michael, and making meaningless, soothing mumbles. The clock was just reaching three in the morning and the baby had not stopped crying since one. It's face screwed up and red, it's fierce cries of discontent were eating both Heero and Duo alive. Opened diapers were spilled out on the floor, formula was cooling on a side table, and several toys and ointments were jumbled together in the empty basinet. In contrast, his brother, Dutro was sleeping soundly, pacifier hanging from lax lips.

"We could leave him on someone's doorstep," Duo suggested with the voice of the desperate. "Anyone's better than us."

Heero glared at Duo. "You're not helping."

The small satellite, a well hidden Winner playground, had been appointed with every convenience and had turned out to be the perfect hiding place for the children of Gundam pilots. Unfortunately, Quatre's staff had yet to reach it with the same speed as two expert pilots in a fast shuttle. Left to their own devices, and with only the brief communications window allowed them each day, asking for advice had proven almost impossible.

"Look at the notes again," Heero growled.

Duo unfolded a creased paper, smoothed it out, and wearily read, "Excessive crying: diaper rash, full diaper, constipation, hunger, colic... we already when through this, Heero! There's nothing we haven't checked aside from breast feeding him. I gotta tell you, that I'm not going for that one."

"We should have brought-" Heero began in frustration.

"Let's not go over that again, either!" Duo snarled. "We didn't have time to bring anyone else. We were lucky to get through space security before they figured out we were outer space bound."

The baby suddenly burped and spit up onto Heero's shoulder. It's crying increased.

"Get a rag!" Heero barked.

"Okay, okay!" Duo growled, "but yelling isn't going to calm Junior down."

Duo dragged himself wearily into the kitchen, glared blearily around with blood shot eyes, and then spied the dish rag under the stack of pots and pans that had been cleaned from dinner. Duo began teasing it out and then yanked it, with temper, when it resisted him. The pots and pans went clanging and clattering to the floor. Furious, he kicked them and sent them in every direction.

"Duo!" Heero snarled from the doorway. "Clean it up and get me the damned rag."

The baby increased it's crying, little fists flailing. Duo let out a long breath. "Sorry," he mumbled, angry with himself, now, for not being able to control his temper. He bent and began picking up the pans as he continued dejectedly, "Maybe Relena was right? Maybe we have bitten off more than we can chew." His hand came in contact with a steel colander.

"Duo, it's just a baby," Heero soothed. "Don't give up. We'll figure this out."

"At his expense?" Duo wondered, nodding to the baby. He began to put the colander on the counter and then paused, an idea coming to him. "Heero?" he asked, "Is there a flashlight around here?"

Heero's attention was on the baby again. "What?" he asked distractedly as he began jiggling the baby again.

"A flashlight?" Duo persisted.

"Left hand drawer," Heero told him as he irritably retrieved the rag himself and began cleaning his shoulder awkwardly.

Duo found the flashlight, tightened his grip on the colander, and then reached to turn out the light.

"Duo!" Heero protested.

Duo turned on the flashlight. "Just a sec," he said as he placed the colander over the light.

The holes in the steel colander were suddenly projectors. A pattern formed all around them. The baby fell silent, eyes wide, as he struggled to follow the bits of light.

Heero grunted.

Duo grinned, took hold of Heero's elbow,and lowered them both to the floor. Leaning against a cabinet, spilled pots and pans all around them, Duo turned the colander to make the pattern twist and turn. The baby giggled, burped again, and then looked very tired and pleased with himself.

"Better than breast feeding," Duo snorted softly.

Heero smiled softly as he cradled the baby against his chest. Listening to his heartbeat, the baby finally went to sleep.

"Love you," Heero whispered and gave Duo a heartfelt look.

Duo swallowed and leaned into Heero. "Maybe we can do this? We might have to stay on the lamb our whole lives, and share the kids with the other guys, and never sleep again, but... I think it's worth it."

"I think so too," Heero replied.

Duo made the lights play on the wall for their own amusement, but then eventually put the colander aside. Leaving the flashlight on, they rested against each other and slowly fell asleep with their baby curled against their hearts.

THE END 


End file.
